Juke Harris recorded career highs with 29 points and nine rebounds as Wake Forest had enough positive spurts to put away visiting Morehead State in an 81-65 victory Friday night in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Tre’Von Spillers added 16 points, including some timely second-half dunks, and Sebastian Atkins chipped in 15 points for the Demon Deacons, who overcame stretches of inconsistent shooting.
Wake Forest improved to 2-0 for the fifth time in six seasons under coach Steve Forbes. Harris, a sophomore guard, shot 10-for-15 from the field.
George Marshall poured in 26 points, Josiah LeGree notched 11 points and Chase Dawson had all eight of his points in the first half for Morehead State (1-1), which had too many empty possessions to make a sustained run.
Harris’ dunk capped a 9-0 run for a 57-41 lead as Morehead State went more than four minutes without a point.
But Marshall’s three-point play cut the gap to 67-57 at the 6:22 mark.
A dunk from Spillers shifted momentum, but Forbes was hit with a technical foul and Marshall’s two free throws made it 69-59 with 4:53 left before Harris hit a pair of free throws on the next possession, followed by another Spillers dunk.
Harris scored 13 of Wake Forest’s points during the opening 11-plus minutes on the way to a 25-19 lead.
But the Eagles went about four minutes without scoring and managed to hang around, trailing 31-24 until Wake Forest built the gap to 44-31 by halftime. Harris scored 15 points in the first half.
The Demon Deacons struggled with their three-point shooting in the first half, shooting 4-for-14, although Atkins’ 3-pointer on the final shot of the half helped give them a boost. However, they compensated for that by holding a 14-8 advantage in points from the free-throw line.
Morehead State shot 3-for-14 from 3-point range in the first half, when it committed 11 turnovers.
